Writer's Workshop
by Chillmaster3000
Summary: Cerulean has an academic problem. Josh helps her out. Part Eight of the Cerulean AU.
1. Chapter 1

"Josh, it's your turn with Cerulean," Donna says, leaning into his office. Josh covers the mouthpiece on the phone in his hand.

"I'm in the middle of something right now. Can Toby wait five minutes?" he says.

"He's already gone over to the Hill."

"Okay, fine. Just let her know I need five minutes to finish this phone call." Josh uncovers the mouthpiece. "Yeah, Dan, I'm still here…" Donna steps out and he can hear her voice for a moment. Then Cerulean comes in, yellow duck backpack hanging off one shoulder. Josh doesn't process Dan's explanation of 458 because he's too busy trying to figure out why Cerulean is frowning as she walks in. She climbs into the guest chair in front of his desk, brow furrowed at nothing in particular.

"Yeah, thanks, Dan. Listen, I'll call you later," Josh says.

"But Josh-"

"Nice talking to you." Josh hangs up. Cerulean looks up at him as he folds his hands on his desk.

"What's up?" he says.

"I thought you needed five minutes," Cerulean says. Josh shrugs.

"We finished fast. What's on your mind?" Cerulean's eyes fix on his hands.

"Nothing."

"Cerulean, let me give you some tried-and-true Uncle Josh advice," Josh says. "If you're going to lie about nothing being wrong, you have to try to act like you normally would. Otherwise everyone is going to know you're lying, like I do right now." Cerulean glances up before putting her hand and her gaze in her lap. "Now, what's bugging you?"

"My teacher said something," Cerulean says.

"Yeah?"

"She said that the teachers at my old school must have been stupid or really nice to say that I was smart." Cerulean bites her lip. Josh's mouth falls open.

"But you are smart! You can read, you know more words than a fifth grader, you do math just fine- she told you you're not smart?" he says, hands spreading. Cerulean shakes her head.

"She said it to another teacher at recess. I heard her," she says. "I'm not good at writing. I'm pretty bad."

"Don't say that-"

"I am, look!" Cerulean opens her backpack and takes out a wide-ruled notebook. Josh flips through the book to see pages of what can be best described as scrawling shapes.

"Okay, so your penmanship isn't stellar," he admits. "But that has no bearing on your intelligence. They say the smartest people have the worst handwriting."

"Who's they?" Cerulean asks.

"I don't know. People in general, I guess." Josh shuts the notebook to see Cerulean is still frowning. "Cerulean, it's not a big deal. Have you seen my handwriting? It's chickenscratch."

"My teacher says my writing is holding me back," Cerulean says. "And she might call Daddy and tell him. I don't want him to know I write really bad."

"Your dad won't-" Cerulean's lip trembles and Josh decides to switch gears. "Okay, kid. I know how to fix this."

"You do?" Cerulean finally meets his eyes and Josh has a moment of panic when he sees there were almost tears. _Jeez, I cannot fuck this up._

"Yes. I do. In fact, I have a _mission_ for you," he says, the spark of an idea.

"A mission?"

"Yes. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be able to write the names of your family by Monday so well everyone can read them," Josh says. "You will complete this mission by writing them over and over again until you can do it well. Do you accept this mission?" Cerulean nods, round face solemn. "Okay. We need to start by gathering supplies for your mission. We're going to need pens, lots of paper-" Josh spots his chalkboard, which hasn't been updated since last month. "-and chalk. You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Great. Let's go." Josh stands and Cerulean slides- with great care, Josh notes- off the chair. She grabs his hand as they head out of the office.

_Cerulean Seaborn CERULEAN SEABORN_

_Samuel Seaborn SAMUEL SEABORN_

_Zachary Dosil ZACHARY DOSIL_

_Hannah Seaborn HANNAH SEABORN_

_Joshua Lyman JOSHUA LYMAN_

_Toby Ziegler TOBY ZIEGLER_

_Claudia Jean Cregg CLAUDIA JEAN CREGG_

_Donnatella Moss DONNATELLA MOSS_

_Leo McGarry LEO MCGARRY_

Josh makes the list while Cerulean erases the chalkboard. He debates putting in more names for more letters, like F, K, Q, P, and X, but nobody has an X in their name and frankly, this list is getting too long. Once she gets these names down, she can practice the others. 21 letters should satisfy that tightass teacher.

"Kay, Uncle Josh, I'm ready," Cerulean says. She stands on the table in front of the chalkboard, which they cleared of files and folders. By cleared, Josh means they put all the stuff on the floor under the table and in front of it in case Cerulean falls. Josh gets up, list in hand.

"All right. Here is your list of names, kiddo, get cracking." He holds out the list to her and she takes it. Josh looks at his watch. "You have six days. Good luck."

"But we're missing a name!" Cerulean says. Josh pauses.

"We are?" He's sure he hit all the main names. Maybe he should have put Joseph on there after all.

"Yeah, Jason's not on here," Cerulean says. Jason. Shit.

"Ah. Yes. He should be on there?" Josh says. Cerulean nods. "I'll put his name on there. You get started on your name." Cerulean gives back the list and turns to the chalkboard, yellow chalk in hand. Josh brings the list back to his desk.

_Jason Barber JASON BARBER_

He hesitates after writing the name. He had been like this seven months after Joanie died. He'd refused to admit she was gone, pretending one day she would just be back like she went to sleepaway camp for a while. Josh looks up at Cerulean, who is scribbling her name on the board. He assumes it's her name, anyway. It could say almost anything.

"Hey, Cerulean, you're making an effort to make that legible, right?" he says. This was the wrong thing to say. Cerulean stops mid-scribble.

"It's _hard_," she says. "The chalk is slippery."

"Sorry, kiddo. Can I help you for a second?" Josh goes over to the board and stands behind Cerulean. He takes her right hand and guides it to write a sloppy but legible S.

"Uncle Josh?" Cerulean says.

"Yeah?"

"Can we do that for the first time through?" she asks. Josh smiles.

"Sure thing."

"Josh!" Sam's irritated voice carries through the Policy Bullpen. Josh turns to Donna, bewildered.

"What's that about?" he asks. Donna shrugs.

"I don't know. But it was nice knowing you."

"Come on, Sam's not gonna kill me!" Josh says.

"No, but depending on what it is, you might lose a limb," Donna replies.

"Fair point," Josh says. Sam reaches them and he's not angry- his shoulders are sagged, so whatever it is, he's only annoyed, not angry. Sam telegraphs his mood more than anyone else Josh knows, and Josh has his body language down to a science.

"Josh, what did you do?" Sam says.

"You're going to have to be more specific," Josh says.

"Cerulean is _covered_ in chalk dust. She has a layer of it over her entire body and there's a trail of it behind her," Sam says. "Furthermore, she won't stop writing and she won't tell me anything about it other than that she has a mission from you."

"A mission?" Donna repeats.

"Yeah, well, about that. It's kind of a long story," Josh says with a slight chuckle. _Shit. Cerulean does not want Sam knowing her 'writing' has been called horrible._

"Josh." Sam's tone has passed irritation and has gone straight to warning. Josh points to his door.

"Follow me."

"Josh!"

"No, there's something I gotta show you!" Josh starts walking towards his office. Sam and Donna both follow him. They come into the office to see Cerulean's big, messy writing across the chalkboard, the names becoming more and more recognizable- to Josh anyway.

"What is all that?" Sam asks, gesturing to the board.

"What happened to the bill tallies?" Donna says, crossing her arms.

"I wasn't keeping up with them. And Cerulean's practicing her penmanship," Josh says. "It's been bugging her, so I gave her a little mission."

"What are you having her write?" Sam says. "I can't read any of that."

"Yeah, don't say that to her. But it's our names. I figure she's gonna have to write those a lot in the future," Josh says. "Did you know, out of Leo, the Senior Staff, her brothers, and your mom, we have 21 out of 26 letters of the alphabet? That's pretty cool."

"Really?" Sam says.

"Yeah, I counted."

"Which five do we not get?"

"F, K, Q, P, and X."

"Kathy, Ginger, and Carol would cover four of those," Sam says.

"The list was getting too long. And nobody has X in their name," Josh says.

"Good point."

"Uh, guys, I hate to rain on the parade here, but brothers?" Donna says. "Cerulean has one brother, Zach. Jason's dead and no one likes Jeremy."

"She insisted Jason was on the list," Josh answers. Sam sighs. "Hey, it's completely normal for kids to do this kind of thing. I checked."

"All right. Thank you for doing this," Sam says. Josh shrugs.

"Don't mention it. It's kinda fun, actually," he says. "Just let me know if this starts stressing her out, coz I'd feel bad about that."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I messed up the timeline on this. It said with the first chapter that this story took place before the Christmas story, but it takes place after. My apologies to anyone who is confused**.

Mallory walks into the Communications bullpen. Sam is not in his office and Kathy is not at her desk. Instead, a little girl is sitting at Kathy's desk. There's colorful pens strewn across the desk as she painstakingly copies something. Mallory can't tell what it is, but it's certainly an attempt to copy.

"Hi," Mallory says. The girl looks up.

"Hi." She smiles brightly at Mallory.

"Do you know where Mr. Seaborn is?"

"He's with Mr. McGarry and Mr. Ziegler," the girl reports.

"Oh. Thank you," Mallory says. The girl picks up the piece of paper she's been writing on.

"Can you read this?" she asks. Mallory regards the lines on the paper.

"I think I can make out the z's," she says.

"There's only one z," the girl replies.

"Then you have a lot of work to do if you want to make it legible," Mallory says. The girl looks down with a sigh.

"Excuse me?" A voice tinged with Southern values comes from behind Mallory. A blonde woman holding a folder is heading towards the desk, something sharp and dangerous in her green eyes.

"Can I help you?" Mallory says.

"I'm sure I misheard you, because I thought you were just said something rude to this child," the blonde answers.

"I told her she has some work to do if she wants to make her handwriting legible," Mallory says.

"And you don't think that's a little harsh for a seven-year-old?" the blonde says.

"It's the truth," Mallory says.

"I can read it," the girl mutters.

"No one else can," Mallory replies.

"You know, I used to think Josh Lyman was the rudest person I've ever met, but at least he's polite with children," the blonde says.

"Have you seen this girl's handwriting?" Mallory says. "It's atrocious."

"It can't be that bad," the blonde says. The girl holds out the paper again and the blonde blinks.

"Okay, it's not great, but you're gonna keep practicing and you'll get better," she says.

"I said the exact same thing," Mallory says.

"No, you were rude," the blonde says, turning back to Mallory. "You don't talk to a child like that!"

"I am a fourth grade teacher, I think I know how to talk to a child."

"Well, I hope your students have thick skins," the blonde says.

"Do you know who I am?" Mallory asks.

"I know you're the woman who insulted my niece," the blonde says. Mallory growls.

"I did not insult her!"

"Leo?" Margaret interrupts the Senior Staff meeting as she opens the door.

"What the hell do you want?" Leo asks.

"There's a very loud…disagreement going on in the Communications bullpen," Margaret says.

"But Toby and Josh are both here," C.J. says, gesturing to the two men.

"I resent that statement," Josh says.

"We've earned it," Toby adds.

"It's Mallory and I think Ainsley Hayes," Margaret says. "Apparently, people are refusing to go back into the bullpen lest they accidentally get involved."

"Mallory and Ainsley Hayes?" Leo repeats. Margaret nods.

"Yeah. No one's exactly sure how or why it started, but I am just about able to hear it from my desk now," she says.

"Cerulean's not there, is she?" Sam asks, a note of panic in his voice.

"I don't know. Kathy wasn't there when it started."

"Then we'd better go rescue the kid," Leo says. "I'll take Mallory, somebody drag Ainsley back to her office."

"I'm not getting in the middle of that," Toby says.

"I'll do it," C.J. says, rolling her eyes.

"I like how we made a battle plan. This is like an actual rescue mission," Josh says as they stand to go to the Communications bullpen. "What do you think they're fighting about? Sam?"

"Why would they fight over Sam?" Leo replies, heading for the door.

"Well, Mallory had a thing with Sam and Ainsley kinda has a thing with Sam-"

"Ainsley and I do not have a thing," Sam interrupts, turning red as they walk down the hall. They can just hear the shouting now.

"Yeah, sure you don't," C.J. says. "Need I remind you of the mistletoe?"

"That's not necessary."

"I'm sure he remembers that just fine," Josh adds.

"Are you people middle-schoolers or Senior Staffers?" Leo says.

"It's hard to tell some days," Toby replies.

"-and I don't know where you practiced typing, but I actually studied education in college and I think I know what I'm talking about!" Mallory's voice carries out of the bullpen as the Senior Staff approaches.

"You don't have to go to Harvard, which I did, by the way, to know basic manners!" Ainsley shouts back.

"Yes, I'm sure your daddy was more than happy to buy you a spot there-"

"Mallory!" Leo barks. Both women stop and turn to him.

"Yes, Dad?" she says.

"Dad?" Ainsley repeats.

"Yes," Mallory says, throwing Ainsley a smug smile.

"What the hell is this? Why are you terrorizing the Communications bullpen?" Leo asks.

"She accused me of being rude," Mallory says, pointing at Ainsley.

"You _were_ rude."

"And you started a shouting match in the West Wing because your feathers got ruffled?" Leo says to Ainsley.

"It wasn't my feathers, she was rude to Cerulean," Ainsley replies.

"Wait, what?" C.J. says.

"I just said she had a lot of work to do if she wanted to make her handwriting legible-"

"I really wish you hadn't," Josh says with a wince.

"Ainsley, where is Cerulean?" Sam asks, panic in his face.

"I think she went into your office when things started to get-" Sam dashes towards his office before Ainsley can finish. "-loud."

"Mallory, would you come back to my office please?" Leo says with a long-suffering sigh.

"But Dad, I was going-"

"Mallory," Leo says again. Mallory huffs petulantly, but does not disagree. "Ainsley, go back to your office. Try not to get into fights for Cerulean's honor on the way. C.J., make sure of it."

"Yes, sir." C.J. walks to Ainsley and they head out of the bullpen. Leo gives Mallory a look and she follows him out. Josh turns to Toby, who is looking though papers on Kathy's desk.

"Well, that was interesting," Josh says.

"No, it really wasn't," Toby replies without looking up.

"I really thought they were going to be fighting over Sam," Josh says.

"Go back to your office or go check on Cerulean," Toby says, voice clipped. Josh shrugs and heads for Sam's office door.

"-wasn't scared!" Cerulean insists as Josh pushes on the door. "I just didn't like it!"

"And that's all right, Cerulean. It's completely normal," Sam says. He stops as Josh enters. Sam is sitting on the floor next to where Cerulean is standing. Cerulean is very unamused.

"Everything good in here?" Josh asks.

"I wasn't scared of the yelling!" Cerulean says again, glaring at Sam. Her arms are crossed over the bib of her overalls and her tiny fists are balled.

"Uh-huh," Josh says slowly as Sam shakes his head. "So you came in here when Ainsley and Mallory started yelling because you didn't like it."

"Yes," Cerulean answers in a sharp voice.

"Ah-kay. How's the writing going?" Josh says.

"Ask _Mallory,_" Cerulean replies.

"Yowch. You're really ticked, aren't you?"

"Josh, you're really not helping," Sam says. "Cerulean, Mallory was rude to you and she needs to apologize. But she wasn't right." Cerulean purses her lips and turns her gaze to the floor. "You don't have a lot of work to do. You just have some practice to do. Everybody has to practice something."

"Whatever," Cerulean answers.

"Wow, you're already prepared for the teenage years," Josh says.

"Josh!" Sam says. Josh shrugs.

"I'm a bad influence. What can I say?"

"You can say nothing as you leave," Sam replies.

"Okay."

"Do you think I'm going to be fired?" Ainsley asks as they walk down the stairs.

"No," C.J. says.

"Are you sure?"

"Fairly sure, Ainsley. Leo hasn't fired Sam yet, and he's argued with Mallory much more often than you have," C.J. says as they reach the bottom level.

"Have they caused as much of a disturbance?" Ainsley says, turning towards her office.

"Well, they've certainly delayed some speeches that way," C.J. answers. "You'll be fine. Leo doesn't fire people for disagreeing with Mallory."

"What does he fire people for?" Ainsley stops outside her office door.

"Gross incompetence. Have you been grossly incompetent?" C.J. says.

"No."

"Then don't worry about it." C.J. turns to go back up the stairs.

"I may already have formulated the best way to pack my things," Ainsley says.

"Well, now you're prepared for anything."


	3. Chapter 3

Sam isn't entirely sure why Cerulean's mad at him, or even if she's mad at him specifically. But she doesn't want to talk to him right now. Cerulean retrieved her writing supplies from Kathy's desk and went to go find C.J. Sam suspects she might have gone to Toby's office if Toby hadn't had a meeting in the Roosevelt Room right now. Sam is taking the time to finish the remarks for next week's event, although it's hard to concentrate when he can't figure out why Cerulean's mad at him.

"Sam?" He looks up from his slow-going progress to see Mallory in the doorway.

"Mallory," Sam replies, voice brittle. She sighs.

"I'm here to apologize to Cerulean."

"She's not here."

"Where is she?" Mallory asks.

"Went to find C.J."

"Can I wait here?"

"If you feel the need to," Sam says.

"You're pissed at me too, aren't you?" Mallory says, coming further into the office.

"Well, you were rude to my daughter."

"I didn't know she was your daughter-"

"And that's supposed to make it better?" Sam interrupts, putting his pen down. Mallory pauses in front of his desk.

"No. It's not."

"Good, coz it really doesn't have any effect on me," Sam says.

"I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. I'm sorry if I did," Mallory says. "I know I can be a little…brusque."

"It's not me you have to apologize to, Mallory."

"I'll apologize to Cerulean when she comes back."

"Good luck with that. She's pissed at me too," Sam says. Mallory raises an eyebrow.

"What did _you _do?"

"I'm really not sure."

"That's not surprising," Mallory says.

"What happened to apologizing?" Sam asks.

"Are you six?"

"No."

"Then I don't have to be nice to you." Mallory sits across from Sam with a small smirk. "Anyway, she's probably not mad at you for any particular reason."

"That doesn't make things any clearer for me," Sam replies.

"You've seen her handwriting. She's not making progress as fast as she wants and she's getting frustrated," Mallory says. "Frustration which she takes out on you."

"How did you know that?" Sam says.

"I'm a teacher, Sam, I know how kids behave," Mallory says. "This happens four or five times a year in my classes. They get frustrated with their inability to instantly master things and they get annoyed with everyone. She'll get over it."

"How did I not figure that out?" Sam says, more to himself than to Mallory.

"Because you know nothing about children and you work too much," she answers anyway.

"I actually know quite a bit about children since I've adopted Cerulean," Sam says. "Well, at least I know a lot about her. Clearly I still have some things to learn."

"I still don't understand why you did that," Mallory says.

"Did what?" Sam says.

"Adopted a child," Mallory says. "You're a single guy who works fourteen hours a day. I saw you with my fourth-graders. You didn't know anything about kids then. You had to ask your mother to come help you. Why would you adopt a child?"

"Because I loved her," Sam answers. Mallory raises a brow again. He sighs. "Look, Mallory, it's…it's kinda hard to explain. Do you remember how I had a fight with your father about the whole thing?"

"Yes. You were the one to say the rude things that night."

"I was. I shouldn't have said those things and I apologized for that," Sam says. "But that fight's the reason I decided to adopt Cerulean."

"You decided to adopt her because my father told you not to," Mallory says.

"Not exactly, but kind of. See, when he was telling me why I shouldn't do it, because of her parents, all I could think was how perfect Cerulean was, how unlike all of that she was, and if Leo just knew her like I did, this wouldn't even be a conversation," Sam says. "When I was thinking about it after, I realized that I loved her. Really, really loved her, more than I've loved anyone in my entire life. I wanted what was best for her, but I wanted…I wanted to see her grow and achieve, to become whatever she wanted, and for her to have the best in the world. I knew then that being her dad would be the greatest privilege I could ever have. It is the greatest privilege. She's the most incredible person in the world and I have absolutely loved her from the moment she took my hand for the first time. I just didn't realize that until I fought with your father." Mallory is quiet a moment, a small smile on her face. "What?"

"You should write that down," she says. "Cerulean might need to hear that someday."

"It's just the truth," Sam says with a shrug. "She should know that."

"She can't read minds, Sam."

C.J. comes back to her office to find Cerulean on her couch, carefully copying a list. Papers are scattered on the cushions and the floor. C.J. reaches down and picks up the nearest page. She can just make out her own name written between something that could say Toby Ziegler and what looks like Donnatella Moss.

"Hey, sweetheart," C.J. says, looking at Cerulean. The girl glances up before going back to her work, brow furrowed.

"Hi."

"What are you working on?" C.J. asks.

"Writin."

"I can see that. Why are you writing our names?"

"Because Uncle Josh gave me a mission and I have to keep working on it if I want people to be able to read it," Cerulean growls. "Only I can't write like a human being and it's never gonna be readable and I should stop tryin."

"Is this because of what Mallory said?" C.J. says.

"Because of what Mallory said, because of my teacher, because no matter how much I practice, I can't make it better!" Cerulean gives a watery huff. C.J. pushes some paper aside and sits next to her. Cerulean wipes at her eyes as C.J. pulls her close.

"Hey, hey. First of all, your teacher can go to hell if they can't see how amazing you are," C.J. says. Cerulean sniffs and curls up against C.J. "Secondly, you are making progress. I can read at least three of these names at first glance."

"You can?" Cerulean says, voice wavering. C.J. holds up the paper she'd picked up.

"Yes. This one is my name. That's Uncle Toby and that's Aunt Donna," C.J. says, pointing to each with a finger on the hand holding it. Her other hand is wrapped around Cerulean's middle. "Your handwriting is kinda messy, but at this point, sweetheart, you're no messier than your Aunt Carol, so I can read it. Most of your aunts will be able to read it now."

"What about uncles?" Cerulean asks.

"Give it a few more days," C.J. says.

"I have til Monday," Cerulean says.

"That's more than enough time. It's only Friday," C.J. replies. "You're gonna be just fine."

Cerulean comes back to Sam's office with her stack of paper and her pens to find Mallory teasing Sam. If Cerulean's expression was any indication, she is not amused by the exchange. Mallory turns in her seat when Sam gestures.

"Cerulean. Hi." Mallory stands as Cerulean sets her things on a chair.

"Hi," Cerulean replies.

"I owe you an apology," Mallory says. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings earlier. I was a bit…brusque and it was not very nice." Cerulean looks up at her.

"Brusque is the word people use about Uncle Toby when they don't want to say bad words in front of me," the girl says. "I'm not sure what it really means." Mallory turns to Sam, who is trying and failing to not smile.

"Sam!"

"Sorry, Mallory." Sam swallows a laugh and looks at Cerulean. "Brusque means abrupt or rude. It does not mean the words Uncle Josh uses when he thinks you can't hear him."

"Okay," Cerulean says. "Apology 'cepted. Don't do it again."

"Yes, ma'am," Mallory replies.

"And Aunt C.J. can read my stuff, so there." Cerulean crosses her arms. Sam loses the fight to not laugh and doubles over in his chair. Mallory pauses, lifting her eyebrows.

"Josh has been a bad influence on you," she says.

"Everybody seems to think so," Cerulean says.


	4. Chapter 4

Monday morning comes and Josh has not forgotten the mission he set. Cerulean has school, so he spends a good part of the morning and early afternoon wondering about her progress. If she actually got her handwriting legible, this was a great experiment. If she didn't, then he would have stressed her out for nothing. Josh really hopes it's the first outcome. Making her cry was not something he wanted.

Finally 3:00 rolls around and Josh can go find out. He has to head to the Oval for Senior Staff, but he swings by Sam's office first.

"Sam, where's the kid?" Josh asks when he does not see Cerulean in the office. Sam shrugs.

"She wanted to go show people her list. Apparently she got her teacher to read the names successfully, though I'm not sure why that was a big deal," he says, coming out to join Josh. Josh decides not to clear that part up.

"So she got her list legible?" he says as they start heading towards the Oval.

"Yeah. It's not the neatest handwriting in the world, but it's much better than it was," Sam answers. "Thanks for doing that. She's so excited."

"Hey, all I did was set her up. Cerulean did the actual work," Josh says. "But it was a pretty good idea. I will take credit for that."

"Yeah, I was talking to Mallory and she said that it's the same thing teachers would do. You know, decent teachers," Sam says. "I wonder why Cerulean's teacher didn't think of it."

"Coz her teacher's a bitch?" Josh suggests.

"That's entirely possible. I have heard some not-good things about this teacher," Sam says.

"What did Mallory have to say for herself about the whole 'insulting Cerulean' thing?" Josh asks.

"She apologized. And Cerulean told her C.J. could read her list, so suck it," Sam says, trying not to laugh.

"She really said that?"

"Not the exact words, but in that vein," Sam answers. Josh snickers.

"Wow. I would have paid to see that."

"Paid to see what?" Leo asks, joining them as they pass his office. Sam and Josh glance at each other.

"Toby kicking ass and taking names on the Hill," Josh says. Leo nods.

"That would have been a sight to see," he agrees. They reach Charlie's desk and stop. "Hey, Charlie. He ready for us?"

"Yeah. Go right in," Charlie says, a smile on his face.

"Something you wanna tell us, Charlie?" Josh asks.

"Nope. Go on in." Leo shrugs and heads for the door to the Oval. He opens it and they can hear the President.

"-worked very hard on this, I can tell," he's saying as the three men walk in. Josh sees the President sitting on the couch beside Cerulean, looking over the list. Josh can't help the grin that grows on his face.

"Sir?" Leo says. The President looks up and Cerulean turns around.

"Oh, hello. We were just discussing the results of Cerulean's mission," the President says. "She's done a fine job." He holds it out to Leo as the other man walks up. Leo takes the list and nods.

"This is very good, Cerulean," he says. "You must have worked hard over the weekend."

"Yeah. Really hard," she says. "But I did it. Uncle Josh, come see!" Josh comes up beside Leo to see the completely legible printing of all the names on the list. His grin widens.

"Look at that, kiddo! You did it," he says. Cerulean beams, bouncing in her seat.

"Listen, Cerulean, why don't you go show your Auntie Ainsley how well you did? I have to talk to these guys about some work stuff," the President says. Cerulean nods.

"Yes, sir." She reaches for the list and Leo hands her the paper. Cerulean slides off the couch and walks between Sam and Josh on her way out. She grabs Sam's hand for a second before going past.

"I'll be back in my office in fifteen minutes, Cerulean," Sam says. "So should you."

"Yes, Daddy!" With that, she leaves. The door shuts behind her. Josh turns back to the President, who is frowning at him.

"Is something wrong, sir?" Josh asks.

"You made that list, yeah?" the President says.

"Yes, sir."

"Why wasn't my name on it?" the President says, voice grave. Josh's jaw drops. Oh, _shit_, he forgot the President.

"Well, sir…the list was getting kinda long, so I…lopped it in half," he says. "She's gonna do the second half later. I don't know if you noticed, but we didn't hit all the letters in the alphabet-"

"Yes, you're missing F, K, Q, P, and X," the President says. Of course he counted, the giant nerd. "Who else is on the second list?"

"Well, Dr. Bartlet, Margaret, Bonnie, Kathy, Carol, and Ainsley. Several of those people have also hounded me about this list," Josh says.

"We all want to be on the list!" the President replies.

"I don't really care about being on the list," Leo says.

"Yeah, that's coz you're on it," the President grumbles.

It had been more than 48 hours since the fight in the Communications bullpen, so Ainsley is 99% certain she's not getting fired. There is an off-chance Leo was waiting for the weekend to be over to fire her. Ainsley still has her desk-packing plans just in case.

A knock at her door has her freeze in panic.

"Yes?" Ainsley calls. The door opens. Ainsley's gaze initially is too high and she sees no one; then she looks down and sees Cerulean.

"Auntie Ainsley! Auntie Ainsley!" The girl runs towards the desk with a piece of paper. "Look at it! Look!" She puts the paper on the desk so Ainsley can see the list of names written in shaky block print. Ainsley's mouth falls open.

"Oh my Lord, would you look at that?" she says. "Cerulean, this is amazing!" Cerulean smiles widely.

"I completed my mission," she says.

"I don't know what that means," Ainsley replies.

"Uncle Josh gave me this mission to make the list readable by today. And I did it," Cerulean says.

"Well, a completed mission deserves celebration," Ainsley says. "Let's go see if the mess has muffins."

"Yeah!" Ainsley stands as Cerulean grabs her list again. Ainsley comes around the desk and takes Cerulean by her free hand. The little girl swings around, enthusiasm translating into bouncing.

"You are one little fireball this afternoon!" Ainsley says with a laugh.

"I'm ex-cited! I completed my mission and my teacher saw how good I'm doing!" Cerulean says as they leave Ainsley's office. "And I gotta ask Mr. Leo to tell Mallory."

"Oh," Ainsley says. They begin up the stairs. "Have you spoken to Mallory?"

"Yeah. She said sorry and that she wouldn't do it again," Cerulean says. "And I told her that it wasn't entirely unreadable, so there."

"So there?" Ainsley repeats.

"So there," Cerulean says again.

"Okay," Ainsley says. "I'm glad she apologized. What she said was rude."

"Yeah. Thanks for stickin up for me, Auntie Ainsley," Cerulean says. "I'm not good at that kind of thing."

"You'll learn, sweetheart. Until then, you've got me and your dad and everyone else here to get your back," Ainsley says. They come to the next floor and Cerulean nods. She sways a little, quiet. "Something on your mind?"

"Kinda. I heard Uncle Toby and Aunt C.J. talking about something yesterday and I got thinking," Cerulean answers.

"What are you thinking?"

"If my Daddy got married, would that make that lady my mommy?" Cerulean asks. Ainsley blinks.

"Well, yes. If you wanted her to be," she says. "What were Uncle Toby and Aunt C.J. talking about?"

"They said you kissed Daddy," Cerulean says. "They said you guys had a thing. Well, Aunt C.J. said there was a thing. Uncle Toby told her he didn't care."

"We don't have a thing," Ainsley says. "Aunt C.J. made us kiss under the mistletoe. It doesn't mean anything." Cerulean looks up at her with a skeptical expression.

"I don't know, Auntie Ainsley. I think they might have a point," she says. "I think you and Daddy are gonna get married one day."

"Not in a million years," Ainsley answers.

"That's what they say in all the TV shows," Cerulean says, looking back at the hall in front of them. "I wouldn't mind it if you were my mommy. That'd be neat." Ainsley is speechless, her mouth hanging open uselessly. That is possibly the greatest compliment she has ever received.


End file.
